As the great-granddaughter of Nirranda's legendary illicit distiller "Whiskey Tom" Delaney, it's with some pride that Geraldine Delaney-Davison speaks of her infamous relative through stories passed down by her family and her own research.

"There's one story where he would hollow out pumpkins and put the demijohns inside so he could cart them around to hotels to sell," she said. "He went to a lot of trouble."

Tom's colourful life will be commemorated with the unveiling of two plaques today marking places of significance - the former Gillies Street jail block where he gave himself up and the cemetery where he is buried.

Mrs Delaney-Davison said in the 1880s, making whisky illegally in the bush was common and there were a number of distillers in the south-west including James Hopkins, James Love, Denis Dinan, John Spark, John Casey, Thomas Thulborn and James Wilson.

"Our family had an Irish background and liking a good drop is something we still have today," she said when asked why she thought Tom and his brother John began distilling.

"I guess they were poor and it would have given them a source of income.

"The bush around Nirranda was just getting opened up.

"Life would have been quite harsh and they would have been working quite hard," she said.

Stories about Tom have been well documented over the years; from producing 100 gallons of whisky a week at the peak of production to developing a good relationship with police by distilling their ration twice to ensure it was of the highest quality.

Tom's whisky is said to have been served at the Koroit races and after customs seized some of the famous brew in 1881, it was sold five weeks later by Job Wines of Woodford at his hotel.

A small but dedicated group of history enthusiasts and descendents of the region's whisky makers, called Whiskey Stills Inc, have spent the past five years erecting plaques along the "Whiskey Trail" which mark significant sites and events in the south-west.

Already there are a number of plaques installed, including one at the Koroit race course, Brucknell scout camp, Woodford township, the Boggy Creek Hotel and the Cobden police station.

Today at 10.30am the group and a number of Tom Delaney's descendents will meet at the site of the former jail on Gillies Street before heading out to the Warrnambool cemetery for the unveiling of the second plaque at Tom's graveside.

Mrs Delaney-Davison said Tom eventually handed himself into police on the insistence of the older members of the family for fear he would become an outlaw. He was sentenced to 18 months' jail.

The day will include a re-telling of the history of her ancestor and morning tea in the Scout hall at Scoborio Reserve.